Reaction & Commentary
Wow. I’m shocked that the home of shows like Love is Blind, Married at First Sight, the Bachelor, and the Bachelorette might have an unhealthy relationship with marriage. People are also getting married for the first time later, in their 40’s and 50’s. But many aren’t getting married at all.
According to a recent Pew Research Center survey, 30 percent of American adults say that they’re single. And according to the pop up ads on my browser, all of those sexy singles are living in my area. But it’s young men, in particular, that are staying single.
Over 60 percent of men between the ages of 18 and 30 say they’re single, compared to around 30 percent of women the same age. And what’s surprising is that’s on purpose. A majority say they aren’t currently looking for a relationship or even casual dates.
Interest in both of those has also been in decline. It makes sense. I mean, who would want to meet someone you can share your life wtih, build a family, and leave a lasting legacy with when you can play Legend of Zelda: Tears of the
Kingdom instead? It’s a sequel to Breath of the Wild! Zelda games almost never get direct sequels. This is the *most* important kind of love there is. Subscribe to Gamers Unbeaten. So why aren’t more young people getting married? Is this the end of marriage in America?
Just like pogs, fidget spinners, or the middle class. Part of it is because more people, especially young adults ages 18 to 24, are cohabitating with unmarried partners instead of getting married. I guess there’s no housing crisis because all these people are living
In sin, as my high school Catholic teacher Ms. Thorneycroft would say. Here’s another possible explanation—dating apps! That’s according to PragerU personality Aldo Buttazzoni . “With these technological advancements, you would think that finding love, finding relationships would be easier than ever,
But what we’re seeing is the opposite. The abundance of choices and the sense of constant availability is creating this situation where men always think they have another option.” Basically, he’s saying that dating nowadays is like choosing what cereal to have for
Breakfast. Why stick with one when you can wake up to a new one every morning? A committed relationship isn’t love. It’s brand loyalty. Buttazzoni’s solution to declining marriage rates is for people to leave dating apps. Yeah! And go out and meet someone the old fashioned way. By having
Your dad talk to her dad and offer to trade her for a goat. So romantic. But are dating apps to blame for declining marriage rates? Well, it’s hard to say. Some studies show that dating apps can lead to happier, more enduring marriages.
Like my pal Jake. He met his wife on a dating app. Sure, they’ve never met in person, but he sends her money every month, and she swears she’ll come to America as soon as she can. Here’s a picture she sent him of her.
But other studies show higher divorce rates for couples who meet online. Stupid science. Why can’t it just tell me what the one truth is. Like Ms. Thorneycroft. But it’s not just about dating apps or marriage rates because it’s not just about dating or marriage. The bigger issue is that people
Are having difficulty making any kind of meaningful relationship, not just romantic. I’ll tell you more after the break. Welcome back. Marriage rates are down the tubes, but these days, any form of meaningful relationship is getting harder to find. Not just romantic ones. Even friendships are in a crisis, especially for men.
In 1990, 55% of adult men and 41% of adult women reported having six or more close friends. By 2021, it was only 27% of adult men and 24% of women. Which means you couldn’t make the show Friends today. And not just because they
Spent seven years in New York City before seeing their first non-white person. Multiple studies are showing this. According to the American Enterprise Institute’s Survey Center on American Life, Americans report having fewer friends compared to 1990—men especially. Those with absolutely no close friends increased fivefold.
As the National Review put it, “Single men fare the worst. One in five American men who are unmarried and not in a romantic relationship report not having any close friends.” But they still have families right? Well, for some, that might not be much comfort. Remember,
A single guy whose only friend is his mother is the basic premise to Psycho. According to a 2021 Harvard University study, 36 percent of all Americans, including 61 percent of young adults, feel serious loneliness. And that’s just serious loneliness. In 2019,
Cigna Health Insurance found that 61 percent of all Americans were lonely, period. Among adults 18 to 24, it was 79%. Gen Z-ers see the movie Cast Away and think, “What’s Tom Hanks complaining about? I wish I was cool enough to make friends with a volleyball.” According to census data, the share of one-person
Households doubled from 13 percent of all households in 1960 to 28 percent in 2021. Loneliness is becoming such an issue that the US Surgeon General published a new report warning how loneliness harms both individual and societal health. What’s driving this loneliness?
Some point to how people are changing jobs more frequently while also having greater flexibility to move to different places. But the deeper, underlying root is society transforming at breakneck speed in ways that make forming relationships much more challenging. One of the biggest changes is technology. Technology like the
Nintendo Switch allowing you to play Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom on the go. Why talk to strangers in public when you can play the 20th version of the same basic game? Advancing technology has enabled people to experience all sorts of things at
The tip of their fingers without putting in any work, including sex. Let’s be real here. In this day and age, just about everybody who accesses the Internet has at least once seen sexually explicit content. Especially Justin Trudeau’s OnlyFans . “Data from the United States, United Kingdom, Australia,
And Italy suggest between 76-87 percent of 18- to 29-year-old men are consuming porn regularly.” Study after study shows that exposure to porn in young people can be especially devastating. Billie Eilish said it destroyed her brain. Porn has been shown to lead to depression, anxiety,
And having a harder time finding sexual satisfaction in monogamous marriages. You know how I said dating apps make finding a partner like choosing what cereal to have for breakfast? With porn, it makes it even harder, since you’re so used to watching strangers eat
All these hot breakfasts that you’ll never be satisfied with just plain old Cheerios. There is a definite relationship between porn and loneliness. And one of the worst offenders is OnlyFans . In exchange for money, it offers the illusion of forming a sexual relationship without the actual experience.
It’s a shame so many lonely guys are willing to live in a fantasy world where they pay money to strangers online to feel like they’re in a relationship. If only they could find something real. Like my pal Jake . But porn isn’t the only thing the US has to worry about.
Social media addiction can also cause depression and loneliness. People are designed to interact with others in person. By talking in person, you get more in-depth communication in ways that you simply can’t online. More importantly, you get into deeper conversations that help foster a better sense of community and satisfaction.
Whether people are using technology to access porn or just normal social media platforms, people are putting more time into out-of-body experiences while being physically isolated from others. Remember when out-of-body experiences were a spiritual thing, like floating above your body while in surgery? Now they’re just calling strangers on Twitter Nazis.
Our disembodied way of life is having real consequences. It’s forming the loneliest generation. Suicide rates are increasing And it’s even making people less healthy. That’s right, the surgeon general says loneliness is as deadly as smoking. So what’s the solution to America’s social disconnect?
Some say that we need to promote the nuclear family, with mother, father, and children living in the household. Data does show that children are better off having both a mother and a father. But that alone won’t solve the problem, especially if everybody is just looking
At their own smartphones while eating at the dinner table. By themselves, parents may struggle helping their children feel less lonely. In fact, they themselves likely feel lonely as well. According to Cigna Health Insurance, parents and guardians are more likely to be lonely than those who aren’t parents.
You can tell, because only a desperately lonely person would join their kids in a TikTok dance just for some human interaction. So one of the first steps that people can take to fix the situation is to stop excessive use of smartphones, social media, and porn. Try to get involved with your community.
Create opportunities for your community to come together. Remember block parties? Or Church? Some use of technology is fine. Like watching America Uncovered. You should be doing more of that. Just make sure you get some fresh air. Before these shows go from being trashy reality TV to relationship goals.
So what do you think of America’s disconnect problem? Leave your comments below. And if you like this show, remember that we rely mainly on direct support from viewers like you. If you want to help us deliver non-partisan news, all it takes is as little as a dollar per episode
Over on our crowd funding website Patreon. Visit patreon.com/americauncovered for more. Click the link below. Once again, I’m Chris Chappell. Thanks for watching America Uncovered.
